A Brand New Day
by Ana Hazel
Summary: Written for the SJRS May/June Challenge, which was about writing Luke's opening sequence to episode VII.


**Title: A Brand New Day**  
**Author: **Hazel  
**Genre: **AU  
**Characters: **Luke Skywalker  
**Timeframe: **4 ABY

**Disclaimer: **The Star Wars Universe does not belong to me (unfortunately). I just like to play with it.  
**Author's notes:** Written for the SJRS May/June Challenge, which was about writing Luke's opening sequence to episode VII. It was supposed to take place in 34 ABY, but I can't wrap my head around such a big gap in time, so I asked to change that to right after the end of RotJ. It is also supposed to feature or contain a mention of Mara.

**SPOILER POLICY: **Yeah… well… I am not familiar with any official spoilers because I am avoiding them like the plague, so any spoilers this piece may contain are purely coincidental.

* * *

**_Episode VII_**

**_A BRAND NEW DAY_**

_._

_~.*.~_

_._

_Peace at last!_

_After 23 years of war, the Rebel Alliance has won. The Emperor is dead. _

_Now, a month after the Battle of Endor, the Alliance's High Command, led by former Senator Mon Mothma, is approaching Coruscant to sign the peace treaty that will end the days of the Galactic Empire and reestablish the old ways of the Republic._

__The New Republic is about to be born, and with it, the New Jedi Order.__

_._

_~.*.~_

_._

There was peace to be found in traveling through hyperspace, and peace was what Luke Skywalker sought at that moment – peace and silence.

Unfortunately, that was not was he was getting. There was too much restlessness in the air. The whole ship - every cable and every inch of metal of _Home One_ \- sizzled with the energy of the thousands of beings within, and those beings were not quiet at all. They were still, as they had been for the past month, celebrating their victory over the Empire. It was a justified clamor, after all, the war had been long and arduous, and had claimed far too many lives and asked for far too many sacrifices from all of them. So, every time a fighter pilot or an infantry trooper or a commanding officer stood up and proposed a toast, all joined in. After all, every rebel that had taken part in the attack that had destroyed the second Death Star was right there.

No, there would be no quiet for Luke on that ship, no matter how much he needed it.

Once again, he tried to relax and empty his mind of all thought, and once again, he was immersed in a thousand images, both of the past and of the future. It became hard to tell them apart. Images of his plea to his father and the death of the Emperor mixed with images of a grand central palace, the ruffling of political intrigue and a woman with flowing red hair, all of them adding to his unsettlement. Even though he had never been there, Luke knew the building was the center of power of the galaxy - the Imperial Palace on Coruscant, the destination of this voyage. It made him feel edgy. Just what would the young Jedi and his friends find in a place where the late Emperor had ruled for so long? He had made his feelings clear to Mon Mothma but she had assured him that this was the best way to proclaim the new government, so Luke had to silence any further misgivings.

Another subject that added to his turmoil was High Command's expectations of him. The old Jedi Order had been a pillar of the old Republic so it was expected that the new Order would take up the same duties and symbolism within the new Republic. The thing was, there were two major problems with this requirement. The first was that the slander campaign and persecution Palpatine had commanded against the Jedi when he rose to power had taken a major toll on the Order's reputation and a lot of people were suspicious of the Jedi. The other problem was that there was no Order anymore. As far as Luke knew, he was the only Jedi in the galaxy.

A headache started to form behind his eyes. Just _where_ would he find more Jedi? Or Force-sensitives for that matter? Luke wasn't even sure if his recently found twin sister was Force-sensitive. He thought she was, but when he confronted her about it, she denied it and left him talking to himself. Luke knew better that to push Leia into doing something she did not want to do. It was best to give her the time to get used to the idea on her own.

In the meantime, Luke would have to start looking elsewhere. Maybe he could search Palpatine's records for leads. For a moment, he even entertained the idea of placing ads on the Holonet. Would that be a crazy idea? Probably, but at that moment he could not think of another.

Maybe he should just get some sleep. Yes, sleep seemed like a good idea. Even Jedi needed sleep.

But sleep continued to evade him.

Finally, Luke gave up on his need for a quiet night and just decided to rejoin his friends in the mess hall. He'd have time to linger on his worries another day.


End file.
